Terra Lawson-Remer, acting chair of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, will take the stage at the San Diego Natural History Museum Wednesday to deliver the State of the County Address.
She will "outline a bold local battleplan in response to a national crisis of governance," according to a statement from her office. She intends to lay out how local government can rise up to fill a vacuum left by a federal government being slashed.
The speech, scheduled for 6 p.m. at the museum, "will chart a path to defend core democratic values, restore public trust, and deliver results where Washington has failed," the statement read. A special guest speaker is scheduled.
The Board of Supervisors, while officially a nonpartisan body, is split 2-2 between Democrats and Republicans. Last week, South Bay voters picked Chula Vista Mayor John McCann and Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre in a primary to fill the vacant First Supervisorial District.
That race will be decided in July, but in the meantime, anything remotely partisan is stymied at a county level. A total of three votes are required to pass any item through the board.
During last year's State of the County Address, then-Board Chair Nora Vargas touted the county's efforts in building housing and helping migrants and people experiencing homelessness.
Vargas announced in late December that she would not serve her second term despite winning reelection in November.
"Due to personal safety and security reasons, I will not take the oath of office for a second term," she said in a statement at the time. It was unclear what the "personal safety and security reasons" were, but board meetings have become increasingly rowdy in recent years, and Vargas was away from the board several times for unspecified reasons and had dealt with health issues resulting from nodules on her vocal cords.
